Surf fishing, what else is out there?

[Tinker]

I'm having a blast fishing the surf until the SW rivers are open again. The redtails are stacking up and it's a great way to spend a morning.

Several posts have mentioned other species - like stripers - that can be caught from the beach if you know what you're doing. I don't. What types of fish might be caught and what water do I need to work to find them?

Aw, gee. I just found the forum dedicated to saltwater fishing. Sorry about mis-posting, but until it gets moved by a moderator, I'd like to learn more.

 

[madasahab]

I'm having a blast fishing the surf until the SW rivers are open again. The redtails are stacking up and it's a great way to spend a morning.

Several posts have mentioned other species - like stripers - that can be caught from the beach if you know what you're doing. I don't. What types of fish might be caught and what water do I need to work to find them?

Aw, gee. I just found the forum dedicated to saltwater fishing. Sorry about mis-posting, but until it gets moved by a moderator, I'd like to learn more.

I was wondering if there was anything out there!!!! I have not even had a bite and I have fished the ocean at least 12 times!!!

 

[Tinker]

I was wondering if there was anything out there!!!! I have not even had a bite and I have fished the ocean at least 12 times!!!

They're there. I've been landing redfin surf perch for months, but they're in larger numbers right now. I use lighter tackle - a 9'0" MH Okuma SST Salmon Rod and 10# Maxima with 2 to 4 ounces of lead depending on the surf. You can go heavier and have a Very Good Day, but using this lighter gear makes it a lot of fun for catching small-ish fish, and I already had the gear and only had to re-purpose it.

The perch are relatively close to the shoreline, in the foam behind the last break line. I start out with a 2 ounce weight and use a slow retrieve "feeling" for a trough or a hole. With lighter weight, the line will drift in the current if I pull it across a hole and that's where they'll be.

I've had the best luck at mid-tide, although most will tell us that the period before and after the low- or high-tide is the best fishing. I have close to zero luck when the first break line is more than 100 yards offshore. Not much happens in a rip, but a lot can happen just next to one.

I've seen guys using mussels and guys using sand shrimp and they've been successful. I prefer Berkley Gulp saltwater sand worms with Pro-Cure Sand Shrimp oil - or without the oil (I bought some so I'm using it until it's gone). I use no more than 2-inches of the worm - anything longer and they'll nibble it down to 2 inches before you can hook one. Size 4 octopus or circle hooks.

I use a drop-shot rigging, and IMHO, how far above the weight you've tied on your hooks makes a big difference. Right around 18" for the first hook and around 28" for the top hook seems to work well for me. But I don't let the rig sit and soak, and keep it moving slowly, but moving constantly, so other distances may fit your fishing style better than the ones I like.

I like to make a monsterous cast way longer than I need. No reason other than I like l-o-n-g casts, and it let's me settle into a retrieve rythym before I reach the productive water.

Oh! and look for the birds and the seals. If they're there, so are what the perch feed on and the seals feed on the perch. That's a never-fail indicator for me.

Good fishing!

 

[madasahab]

They're there. I've been landing redfin surf perch for months, but they're in larger numbers right now. I use lighter tackle - a 9'0" MH Okuma SST Salmon Rod and 10# Maxima with 2 to 4 ounces of lead depending on the surf. You can go heavier and have a Very Good Day, but using this lighter gear makes it a lot of fun for catching small-ish fish, and I already had the gear and only had to re-purpose it.

The perch are relatively close to the shoreline, in the foam behind the last break line. I start out with a 2 ounce weight and use a slow retrieve "feeling" for a trough or a hole. With lighter weight, the line will drift in the current if I pull it across a hole and that's where they'll be.

I've had the best luck at mid-tide, although most will tell us that the period before and after the low- or high-tide is the best fishing. I have close to zero luck when the first break line is more than 100 yards offshore. Not much happens in a rip, but a lot can happen just next to one.

I've seen guys using mussels and guys using sand shrimp and they've been successful. I prefer Berkley Gulp saltwater sand worms with Pro-Cure Sand Shrimp oil - or without the oil (I bought some so I'm using it until it's gone). I use no more than 2-inches of the worm - anything longer and they'll nibble it down to 2 inches before you can hook one. Size 4 octopus or circle hooks.

I use a drop-shot rigging, and IMHO, how far above the weight you've tied on your hooks makes a big difference. Right around 18" for the first hook and around 28" for the top hook seems to work well for me. But I don't let the rig sit and soak, and keep it moving slowly, but moving constantly, so other distances may fit your fishing style better than the ones I like.

I like to make a monsterous cast way longer than I need. No reason other than I like l-o-n-g casts, and it let's me settle into a retrieve rythym before I reach the productive water.

Oh! and look for the birds and the seals. If they're there, so are what the perch feed on and the seals feed on the perch. That's a never-fail indicator for me.

Good fishing!

I use to kill em down around brookings with regular old shrimp. I now live in Lincoln City and can't even get a bite! It is frustrating as hell! I even fished off some good rocks for bottomfish or lings and not even a bite...seals were around and birds! The sea is but a cruel mistress!!! I wish the damn springers would hurry the hell up!!!

 

[chrisohm]

I use to kill em down around brookings with regular old shrimp. I now live in Lincoln City and can't even get a bite! It is frustrating as hell! I even fished off some good rocks for bottomfish or lings and not even a bite...seals were around and birds! The sea is but a cruel mistress!!! I wish the damn springers would hurry the hell up!!!

Roads End, low tide, fish around the rocks with the mussels that are nearby. Harvest enough mussels and take a drive to fish rock, low tide is the best. Choose wisely here since it can be treacherous. On calm days during low tide you can fish off some of the rocks around Depoe Bay but stay alert, this place gets angry real quick. You can get some decent lings there and other tasty morsels. Other than that, hit up the bays and fish off the jetties, but make sure to go as far to the end as you can, safely. There are tons of fish all over, you just have to pick the right day!

 

[Tinker]

The sea is but a cruel mistress!

Amen.

 

[CoastieFlo]

Tinker u have some of the best perch beach areas on the whole coast, the steep cut beaches around Ophir and Nesika Beach are places where some of the biggest perch are caught. Id love to have deep holes like that to fish but nothing like that is around the central coast areas.

 

[Tinker]

We're finding some sizeable perch right around Port Orford right now. I haven't been skunked since November, but the numbers are up right now. Don't tell anyone else, but I've been having trouble heading south on 101 and made the first trip without nearly ripping the leather off the steering wheel last week. Will definitely look into the area around Nesika, now.

Didn't know they had steep-and-deep shorelines, but I've only looked at them from the car. Thanks for the heads-up.

But, if I'm standing on shore, what other species are out there that I might also try to catch? Not that the perch aren't fun, but I'm really curious.

 

[madasahab]

Roads End, low tide, fish around the rocks with the mussels that are nearby. Harvest enough mussels and take a drive to fish rock, low tide is the best. Choose wisely here since it can be treacherous. On calm days during low tide you can fish off some of the rocks around Depoe Bay but stay alert, this place gets angry real quick. You can get some decent lings there and other tasty morsels. Other than that, hit up the bays and fish off the jetties, but make sure to go as far to the end as you can, safely. There are tons of fish all over, you just have to pick the right day!

I have tried roads end and fishing rock many times with not even a nibble. I have used herring, shrimp, squid, jigs, berkely worms and even a mussel or two...it's mind boggling...I finally gave up...

 

[Tinker]

I am cetain that you have a lot more experience than I - a lot more - but I'd like to suggest that you try one bait and one technique until something at least taps at the line. I only got back to Oregon a year ago (we moved when I was a kid) and immediately went through every trick I learned about catching steelhead in the Great Lakes region and added some new ones I'd ever tried before and I haven't seen the least hint of a live fish of any kind in our rivers. Post spawn carcasses, but not a live fish - not even a minnow! This season I'll choose one technique that I know and feel comfortable with and stick with it until something happens. Sometimes expereience just makes fresh waters muddy.

That's my excuse, anyway...

We have some tricky water down here, too, and a few places where I don't think I'd get back out if a sneaker pulled me off the sand. I'll have to take a look at out Roads End and see how nimble I might need to be.